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Adding some mnubas

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Alright, I have a 72 gallon tank that is about to finish cycling soon and I want to stock it with malawi cichlids. I have two questions for all of the experts here.

1. I've read that cichlids should be added in large groups to avoid conflicts between the fish. I've also read that you should add fish slowly to your new tank so it will be able to handle the bio-load. So which is it? Do I add the fish in large groups or do I add them only a few at a time? BTW I did a fishless cycle with pure ammonia if that matters.

2. The fish I am considering are Yellow Labs, Golden cichlids, red zebras, Pseudotropheus demasoni, and snow white zebras. I was planning on adding 3 of each, 1 male and 2 females for a total of 15 fish. Am I going to have any problems with these fish living together? Is 15 fish the right amount for a 72 gallon tank?

I have no cichlids but I've also read adding several at once helps the aggression. Probably some every two weeks would even be OK since they will all be young. But you may also want to add some bio-spira to your tank for adding bacteria. It's hard to find at times as it's only sold at LPS stores and is kept refrigeratored. If it's not available, then even Stress Zyme will help.

you will have problems with the demasoni and the labs and other cichlids. How big id the tank. I added all my demasoni at once to avoid aggression issues although other AC members may disagree I have had no problems. I over stock and over filter my mbuna tank. That way aggression is spread out. Dont mix mbuna, labs and other cichlids. stick with one type. mbuna's typically get along with othe mbuna's if they are different colors and styles of fish.

Respect is mutual, if you don't respect others viewpoints, chances are they won't acknowledge yours.-- Unknown.

Maybe I'm confused but I thought mbuna refered to all of he rock dwelling malawi fish. Every site I've checked out list both the labs and the demasoni as types of mbuna. I believe all of the fish I chose were mbuna and all seem to have different colors... so where is the problem? I'm new to this so please be patient with me.

This site is long but dedicated to cichlids. (pronounced SICK-LIDS) I called them chick-lids for a long time until I had someone set me straight on that finally.

I believe the mbuna are some of the most aggressive. I'm half thinking of going with dwarf cichlids altho the peacocks are very pretty (but get larger.)

Cichlids are a confusing subject for me, as well, as some are rock dwellers and others like to be in the open. And don't like to be together with the rock dwellers. Cichlids are also divided into which lakes they come from as well as regions. Feeding them less often makes them more aggressive and having more than less in a tank holds down aggression as well.

The labs are mbunas so you are right to have them in that tank. Only mbunas should ever go in that tank (unless you want to add a Synodontis sp. or something) and I would add a lot more rockwork than your pics show. The labs should go in first though because they are the least aggressive and if you can find bigger labs, I would go with those. Add at least 3 if not 5 or so each time you add fish. I think you mentioned a biowheel and a rena, so I would add a Fluval 405. Trust me, you won;t overfilter (especially with mbunas, who love a strong current) and it will pay you back with better water quality in a decently stocked mbuna tank. Some people would add even more than 15 to a 72, especially with mbunas, but that is up to you. It isn't too much. Water chanegs should be 50-75% weekly and you should keep the pH at 8.2 with buffers and use a cichlid lake salt (I use Seachem's Cichlid Lake Salt and it works great). Remeber to keep the diet herbivorous. New Life Spectrum would be the best. Sorry if a lot of this is repetitive of your research, I don't know what all you have learned yet.